Improvement in voting apparatus



- 2 Sheets--Sfheet t.

* HUGH T.: MCALISTER.

improvement in Voting Apparatus. A

N0. l25316, l Patented Aprl2,1872,

2a, TELETFW 1i/@4 fa/Ma 2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

HUGH T. MCALISTER.

improvement in Voting Apparatus. N0.125,31. PatentedAprlZJBQ.

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UNITED STATES HUGH T. MCALISTER, OF MCALISTERVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN VOTING APPARATUS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 125,316, dated April 2, 187:2.

To all Iwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HU GH T. MGALISTER, ot' McAlisterville, county of Juniata, State oi' Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Method of Voting, of which the following is a i'ull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification, in Which- Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, of devices adapted to carry out my invention. Fig'. 2 is a plan view ofthe same. Fig. 3 represents a series ot balls or ballots employed in the system; and Fig. 4 represents a balance which I have invented for use in connection with my other improvements.

Various attempts have been made to invent a system of voting or recording votes in legislative and similar bodies With accuracy and dispatch. Among the methods which have been devised for this purpose are some in which each member votes by depositing, or causing to be deposited, a ball or ballot in a suitable receptacle, at one end or the other, as he Wishes to vote yea or nay, ot' a balanced beam, or into one or the other of two springbalances, in either case the ballot being regis- My invention relates to this class of voting mechanism, and consists in certain novel fea-tures of construction and operation ot the devices employed, as will be hereinafter fully explained.

In the accompanying dra\ving,Arepresents the desks occupied by the persons who are to cast the ballots. Each desk is provided with two pipes, c a, passing through the floor and connecting with pipes or conducts B C. The pipes c all lead into conduct B, While pipes a all lead into conduct C. Each conduct terminates near the open mouth of a receiver, D, attached to a spring-balance having a pointer, which moves in front ot' a graduated scale as at d, Fig. l. It Will ot course be understood that one of the pipes in each desk should be marked yea and the other nay, as in Fig. 2. E are the ballots. Each desk should be furnished with a number of balls marked, as in Fig. 3, with the numbers which correspond With the number ot the desk. When a person Wishes to vote he deposits a ballot in either of the apertures, as he intends to vote yea or nay, which ballot is at once conducted to its proper pocket or receptacle, Where it is registered by the fall ot' the pointer d, and when preferred both pockets may be connected with an index which shall indicate the result at a point in view of the Whole house. After the ballots are deposited they may be taken out and examined by an attendant, when the vote ot' each person can be recorded on a suitably prepared list, so that each can see how every one voted.

It will be readily seen that this system of voting by numbered ballots possesses many advantages over any heretofore invented, as each vote can be accurately recorded, and all errors of Whatever nature immediately corrected. Oi' course care must be taken that each desk is supplied with balls bearing a corresponding number 5 otherwise an inextricable confusion would result. Any means may be adopted for numbering the balls, and many other Well-known systems of registering the ballots may be employed, Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In Fig. 4 I have represented a new construction of balance, which I have invented for the purpose of registering the ballots as they are polled. D are the receptacles or pockets into Which the balls are delivered from tubes B C. Each pocket is attached to one end of a balance-beam, F, by means of links F. Beam F is supported centrally upon a spring represented at Gr. In the drawing this spring is shown as being made ot' a number of elliptical pieces but any other desired or approved form ot spring may be adopted it' preferred; or what will perhaps be better, each end of the beam may be supported upon an independently-a-ctin g spring. H is an indextinger rising from the center of the beam. As the ballots are cast the beam will be depressed just in proportion to the number of balls deposited in both pockets, and the iinger will show at all times which pocket contains the greater' number ot' balls. Ot course, the pointers d will indicate on the scales the number of ballots cast, both ayes and noes. The pointer I-I should be arranged in some conspicuous position in the hall, say behind the speakers desk, and two scales, like those at d, may be placed at the ends ot' the beam when it is thought best to register the number ot ballots in view ofthe entire assembly.

When these devices are to be applied to buildings not speci'ally constructed to receive them, and are placed upon the outside of walls, pipesmay be employed to protect links from injury or displacement. l

I am aware that machines have been invented for recording votes by means of ballots of uniform weight which were deposited in scales, the result being indicated by a pointer on a graduated index; but these devices as heretofore constructed were very complicated and consequently liable to derangement, being operated by asystem of wires, pulls, and levers, requiring close attention on the part of the attendants to keep a ball in every receptacle; otherwise a member would fail to record his vote even though he pulled the knob in his desk, and in case an attempt had been made to use numbered ballots like mine, the result Would have been still more disastrous, because even with the utmost 'care the attendants would put wrongly-numbered ballots in the receptacles, which would sometimes result in recording a member as having voted twice and would sometimes record a member as having voted when he was not present; whereas, under my arrangement of devices, each member has charge of his own ballots and can therefore see that he voted none but his own number; and further, his ability to vote is not de pendent upon the faithfulness of an employ. I am also aware that tubes have been employed in hotels for conveying balls with messages from the various roomsto the ofiice; but in that case there was no vregisterin g apparatus connected with the tubes. Hence 1 do not wish to claim broadly the use of tubes for the conveyance of ballots, nor the employment of Witnesses: A E. M. MARGRITZ, J AMES UAVENY. 

